Home Is Wherever I'm with You

In case you weren't aware, Jarrod and I will be moving. We are hoping it will be sometime this summer, but we'll just have to see how things go. We have decided to move to Washington, for a number of reasons. But mostly it is because that is where my family is, our friends are, my job is, my church is (I miss Lourdes a lot) and we just feel it is what we need to do.

After finally reaching that decision about a month ago, we have begun the process of figuring out the logistics and whatnot. We went looking at houses Tuesday night with a realtor, we're talking with some finance people for our mortgage, and we spoke with another realtor tonight about listing our house. I'm not as scared about the buying aspect this time, since we've done it before. But the selling part makes me anxious. Not to mention, we're not exactly looking forward to it; we're not the neatest people on the planet, and we'll have to really buck up and pick everything up ALL the time for when the house is being shown.

But "the pieces are moving" on all fronts, so hopefully everything works out. Our house should be on the market in a couple weeks. We have a few things to do before we list it, and we'll tackle all of those this weekend and next week. She had some suggestions for things to do before we take pictures and list it, so that was good.

Not Just Any Ol' Piece of Furniture

The picture below is our new TV chest. But it’s a very special TV chest. I love the back-story to it, not gonna lie…

So this all started as an idea for a wedding present. Rick (on left) has made both Jarrod’s parents a mantle for their fireplace and one for Justin and Mallory as a wedding present. He knew we did not have a fireplace, so he asked what we might like. We felt we would really like a nice stand for our TV. That’s a little much for a wedding gift, so we all agreed it would just be a separate project. Rick just wanted us to let him know what we wanted.

So I sketched it out, we decided on cherry wood, and a dark stain similar to our bedroom furniture. We then had two options, we could buy the wood or get it from a cherry tree. Rick was able to find a cherry tree at a job he was working on for someone. We decided on the tree. I think they were going to cut it down anyways, so he asked if he could have it. We obviously saved a lot of money versus buying the wood, but the tradeoff was that we’d have to wait another year or so because the wood had to dry out.

There was a lot of love, thought, and talent put into this. Rick found us the tree, for starts. Then another family friend, Dan, has a saw mill. So he made the boards from the tree. Then it went back to Rick, who does woodworking, and he made the chest for us. Then it went to yet another family friend, Danny (on right), who stained it and finished it for us.

The finished product is what you see here, but it’s a lot nicer to see in person. Rick and his wife Terry are on the left, Dan and Sherri are on the right. This is something we are so thankful for, and will forever cherish.

New Blog, New Beginning?

For some reason, I have been itching to do a new blog. I’ve done this once before, where I ‘moved’ blogs.

Previously, I did it because I knew there were people who looked at my blog that I no longer wanted to. So I switched, emailed the new URL to specific people, and never looked back.

But the main reason I am switching things up is because my old blog is tied to an older email address, and I can’t change that.

I mean, REALLY?!

Something I love to hate on the news are new studies that prove things any knowledgeable person could already assume to be true anyways. Things like 'New study finds that smoking may lead to other types of cancer besides lung cancer' or 'Leaving your child alone with strangers is a bad idea' or 'Spending too much time on your cell phone may cause pain on your ears.'

But this one is just SO dumb I can't believe that a MILLION dollars was [supposedly] spent to do this study. Here is how it goes: "Cheap Drinks At College Bars Can Escalate Drinking Among College Students— It's no secret that alcohol use among college students can cause a number of problems, including injury, violence and even death. A new study has examined the impact of drink discounts at college bars, finding that low alcohol prices at drinking establishments pose genuine threats to public health and safety." And so on.

Really? REALLY? Lower prices at bars means people drink more? Holy shit, what a revelation. I never knew that.

Take it away Kermit.

A 'final' update

I'm calling this my final update because I am also calling this day the end to my crazy 4-month lung saga.

I had a follow-up appointment today, and it went ok. On the bright side, my oxygen was where it should be, but that's about it. Let me review since I just realized I haven't written anything since Easter...

Mid-April (actually, that week after Easter) I went into the hospital suddenly after a morning of coughing and a week of feeling like crap. Lo and behold my numbers had really dropped and my oxygen levels were only 89%. I went into the hospital straight from my doctor's appointment, and spent 8 days there. I did a full two-week course of antibiotics and we got my numbers back up to 28%. Still not where I was...

My doctor wasn't ready to call this a home run quite yet, so for the past three weeks we tried a few more things. Like usual, I had side effects with the meds and had to end a little early. But I didn't know that I felt all that better; it was slight, if any.

Well, today confirmed what I thought which is that: I am no better. In fact I'm slightly worse than three weeks ago...

And that's just the way it's going to be.

We're going to continue my normal regimen, give my system a break from antibiotics for as long as possible. And I'm hoping I can try to come back from this a little bit by taking some walks, and eventually building up to using our elliptical again. I have been telling myself, and I even promised Jarrod, I would take walks every other day, but I still haven't made it happen. I can't even describe the internal frustration with myself that I have right now because I still haven't done it. But the fact is that I can't just continue on like I did 5 months ago; I have to be extra diligent with my treatments, stay up on my rest, and exercise. Or else I will continue on this downward path, end up in the hospital constantly, and yeah, that will pretty much define my life every couple months.

I'm having a really hard time with today's results. I don't know what is going on with my health that I can't stay healthy anymore. It seems like any hard work, IV meds, hospital stays all help for such a short period of time, and after that it's all for naught.

I'm sorry these blog posts as of late aren't filled with better news. I wish they were.